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  1. F1A for Sale at Max Men
  2. CIAM PLENARY MEETING PROPOSALS
  3. Checking Yours

F1A for Sale at Max Men

From: Ross Jahnke

I am selling a “*Baby Al*” F1A short wing bunter, originally owned by Lee
Hines. It comes with two Palm Pilots and cables, and its own wooden box. It
has some repairs made by Lee back in the day, but has only been flown once
since that time. I installed a new servo a few years back, and replaced the
nicads with lipos. $500 OBO. Pick up from Don Chesson at the Max Men. For
more info contact me at ross.jahnke@nicholls.edu.

Ross Jahnke,

CIAM PLENARY MEETING PROPOSALS

From Free Flight News

The 2022 CIAM Plenary meeting is likely to be held in April. It has not been determined whether there will be a physical meeting (and if so then venue has not been determined) or remote meeting.
The following is a description of the proposals submitted for changes to the F1 Free Flight volume of the Sporting Code. This is advance notice of items expected to be on the agenda, but please wait until the agenda is published before making comments to your national CIAM delegate. There may be general rule proposals which affect free flight but details are not yet available.
New or modified text is shown in bold. The bulk of the proposals relate to the two options involving altimeters, plus a few administrative tidying up items.

F1.1.4 Additional Flights in Open Internationals

Proposal by Serbia

They propose deleting “inadequate field space” from the list of exceptional reasons which allow an altitude flyoff in the second paragraph. They also delete it from item (a) along with additions:

  1. A non-standard procedure must be used ONLY for these exceptional reasons of strong winds (stronger than 6 m/s), poor visibility (horizontal not more than 500m and vertical not more than 150m), or unavailability of the field for continuation on the following day.

Reason: It is necessary to quantitatively define meaning of the terms “strong wind” and “poor visibility” to avoid any ambiguities and different interpretation. This proposal clarifies these ambiguities. Also term “inadequate field space” is deleted because the official events in the FAI CIAM Contest Calendar may not be flown at “inadequate field space”. The flying field must correspond to the required CIAM standards.

Proposal by Austria

Austria propose to remove the altitude flyoff definition (b)
Reasons include difficulty locating the start of the flight on an altimeter, the timing rules require a model to be timed to the end of the flight (which has not stopped people stopping timing after the max has been reached in any other flights) and then they criticise the accuracy of the altitude measurements. (Ed: The sensitivity of the sensor to temperature is quoted as the main reason the accuracy will be much less than claimed. However, the figure they quote is absolute accuracy between 25C and 65C and it only becomes relevant if one model is flying in air that is 40C hotter than the air another model is flying in – which is impossible by a factor of 10)

Proposal by Austria

Then they make a contrasting proposal to keep F1.1.4 with some small changes:
Extend item (iii) The flight is timed up to the maximum time

and controlled by the timekeeper with a regular stopwatch.

Change definition of a tie:

vi) A tie is defined for all competitors which are inside the tolerances given by EDIC For Free Flight V1.2, EF1.2 d). The tolerance is specified with +/- 1 metres. Exact wording:

…within 2 metres.

 

Proposal by FFSC

Modify F1.1.4 item (b) as shown below. New items area added as (iii), (v), and (ix). Other items have been modified and renumbered to fit with the newly-added items:

  1. An “altitude flyoff” may be specified when F1 altimeters have been approved by CIAM EDIC and at least one of the following conditions are met:

1)altimeters are available for competitors to purchase from at least one supplier

2)all competitors in the fly off have their model equipped with an approved altimeter

  1. The procedures for a regular additional flight for the class are followed
  2. A maximum flight time is defined which should be at least two minutes.

iii)Before the flight the competitor shows his altimeter to the timekeeper for the timekeeper to record the serial number marked on the altimeter and to confirm that it shows the empty memory indication.

  1. The flight is timed up to the maximum time

v)Competitors must present their altimeters and altitude read out no later than 45 minutes after the end of the flyoff

  1. For all competitors attaining the maximum flight time, the altitude of the model at the maximum flight time is read from the altimeter referenced to a zero altitude defined by the altitude during the 10 seconds before launch of the model (for F1A before the helper releases the model from the ground and for F1C before starting the motor). For scoring purposes the altitude is rounded to the nearest metre.
  2. The individual placings are determined by the highest altitudes for all flights attaining the maximum, followed by time order. Competitors with a recorded altitude are placed before competitors not returning an altitude, even if the recorded altitude is negative.
  3. Equal altitudes are considered to be a tie, which may be resolved by another additional flight.

ix)The proper operation of the altimeter is the responsibility of the competitor.

Reasons: Refinements as a result of experience gained through the use of Altitude flyoffs in 2021.
Availability of altimeters is essential to the fair application of the procedure and while availability is limited the altitude flyoff can be used if all flyoff competitors do have approved altimeters.
iii) It is necessary for the timekeeper to record the serial number of the altimeter, which is required by EDIC to uniquely identify each individual altimeter.

  1. For the smooth running of the contest, there must be a time limit for presenting the altitude data.
  2. It is necessary to define the reference against which the altitude is measured and this is proposed to be on the start line just before launch.
  3. The landing area may be below the starting line and thus a negative altitude at the time of the maximum flight time is a valid altimeter reading and should take precedence over competitors with no recorded altitude.

ix) The competitor is responsible for correct operation of the altimeter. This is comparable to the way in which the competitor is responsible for the functioning of radio control DT or motor stop.

F1.2.7 Electronic evidence of flight time

Proposal by FFSC

Modify F1.2.7 from paragraph 3 onwards:
If the competitor is using an EDIC-approved altimeter then this must be shown to the timekeeper before the flight for the timekeeper to record the serial number marked on the altimeter and to confirm that for the first additional flight it shows the empty memory indication.
Competitors using altimeters which are not EDIC-approved must follow the following procedure. Prior to each fly off, participants with (reserve) models equipped with such recording devices being switched on, should position their model(s) at ground level no more than 5 metres from their assigned starting pole. Upon instruction of the contest director, the participant will have to lift the model(s) from the ground and hold the model(s) elevated a number of times, the number and duration of these movements is decided by the contest director thereby generating a unique altitude-time signature.
In case of a flight-time related dispute, the competitor automatically may proceed to the following fly off round. Any dispute must be marked on the competitor’s scorecard for that fly off round. After the last fly off but no later than 60 minutes from the end of the last fly off, the jury will ask the competitor who filed the dispute to read out the altimeter data and present the altitude versus time graph. The jury will check the signature in the graph and determine the flown time for the fly off round for which a dispute has been filed. If the moment of launch, landing and flight time can be clearly established and the correct signature is present, the flight time will be recorded for the final result. If any one of these conditions is not met, the timekeeper’s time of the disputed fly off round will be used as the score for that fly off round. If this time is less than the maximum flight time set for that particular fly off round, any subsequently flown fly off rounds will be cancelled for that competitor. In case of a protest related to the altimeter generated flight time, the altitude graphs must be made available to the jury. Failure to do so will result in the time keeper’s recorded flight time being the official score.
Reasons: To simplify the procedure for competitors using an EDIC approved altimeter by removing their need to creature the altitude signature.
To increase the time limit for return of altimeters from a flyoff which might have been for a long flight.

Proposal by Serbia

Serbia propose to require that the altimeters must be EDIC approved. In a revision of wording they propose to add:
All fly-off participants shall agree prior to the fly-off to use electronic evidence of the flight time. The event organiser shall provide at least one independent person, who is not a competitor, qualified to deal with electronic altimeters and to read and interpret required saved data.
And later
Electronic evidence of flight time as a non-standard method of fly-off shall not be used earlier than two hours before the official sunset.

F1.2.6 Time recorded

Proposal by FFSC

The duration of the flight recorded is the mean of the times registered by the timekeepers, rounded to the nearest whole number of seconds to the resulting mean time (0.5 second rounded up to the second above) unless the difference between the times registered shows evidence of an error in the timing, in which case the organiser will determine, with the FAI Jury, which time will be registered as the official time or what action should be taken.
Reason: To clarify that this definition relates to the time of a flight and not the time of motor runs which are defined in the class specifications.

3.8.8 Classification – F1Q

Proposal by FFSC

Modify 3.8.8 (c) as shown below.

  1. The organiser will establish a 7 minute period during which all fly-off competitors must launch their model. Within these 7 minutes the competitors will have the right to a second attempt in the case of an unsuccessful first attempt for an additional flight according to 3.8.5. Starting positions will be decided by draw for each fly-off.

Reason: This brings F1Q into line with F1A F1B F1C and F1P in having a 7 minute period for the additional flights. The 7 minute change was made in 2017 for the other classes and the extension to F1Q was missed when F1Q became an official class in 2018.

3.S.1 Definition – F1S

Proposal by FFSC

Modify 3.S.1:
Model aircraft which is powered by an electric motor(s) and in which lift is generated by aerodynamic forces acting on surfaces that remain fixed in flight except to dethermalise. No control surface movements are allowed during flight.
Reason: To clarify that the requirement for fixed surfaces also excludes control surfaces.

Annex 4 Free Flight Ranking

Proposal by FFSC

Modify item 4:
For every event the competitors’ scores will consist of two components:
A results component. This consists of points awarded on the same basis as World Cup points for competitors finishing in the top half or top 24 of the results list. Bonus points are given in accordance with the current World Cup bonus allocation.
An event ranking position component. This measures how well the competitor has performed in an event compared to the result which would be expected from his current position in the ranking.
To calculate this all the competitors in the competition are placed in the order in which they appear in the current ranking. Any competitors not previously on the ranking list will be assumed to be equally placed at the bottom of the ranking list. Each competitor is allocated points according to the difference between their actual position in the competition and the position calculated according to the ranking list. Ten points are awarded for every 3 places different, positive if placed better than ranking position, negative if below ranking position.

Reason: To bring the ranking definition into line with World Cup changes. The change in (a) is for always award points to the top half of the results list. The change in (b) is to increase the position points by a factor of 10 to correspond the upgrading of the World Cup results points (which changed from 50 to 500 for first place). Both changes had been incorporated in the software calculating the ranking results at the time of the World Cup changes (2017) but the definition was not updated in the Sporting Code.

Checking Yours

You can check your own FAI License  by going to

https://extranet.fai.org/

You do not have to logon – a little way down the page there is a “check your license” place.  You enter your email address (the one you gave with your license application)   and click and a copy of your license will be emailed to you